


Quark's Evil Scheme

by Colbert100



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 12:52:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17981684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Colbert100/pseuds/Colbert100
Summary: Quark devises his most cunning scheme yet, but it doesn't end up going as planned. Cute Quodo fluff.





	Quark's Evil Scheme

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing DS9 fic and it's also my first Quodo fic, so let me know what you think!

Quark rubbed one of his lobes, grinning as he surveyed his latest purchase. It was secured in one of his holosuites, which he had supposedly shut down for maintenance. He had honestly found the thing repulsive at first, but that was before he realized its usefulness. Smirking to himself, he walked out of the holosuite. His newest scheme was going to be his best one yet.

 

The security reports were relatively uninteresting today, Odo thought. Coming from a man who loves justice and the rule of law, it was saying something if he found his work boring. He looked over the reports – a fight had broken out on the Promenade after a Klingon boy stole a Bajoran girl’s jumja stick, a few of Garak’s shirts had gone missing, a number of people had filed a noise complaint against a couple that had loudly broken up in Quark’s – wait, that was it! _Quark_. Quark hadn’t violated a single rule, done anything suspicious, or even annoyed anyone in the last week. As much as he hated to admit it (and never would anywhere in Quark’s general vicinity), Quark made his job a lot more interesting. He decided to go check on him, as his lack of criminal activity seemed like a good enough reason to do so. He tried not to think too hard about the fact that part of him missed Quark, as there was no reason that he’d ever miss that troublesome Ferengi.

When he got to the bar, Quark seemed surprised to see him. He seemingly panicked for a second, then controlled himself and greeted Odo with a smile. “Odo! What can I get for you?”

Odo glared at Quark. “Nothing, and you know that.”

Quark rolled his eyes, dropping the customer service smile. “I was just trying to be nice. You strolling in here and scaring off my customers with that glare of yours is bad enough, but you not buying anything makes it even worse.”

Odo harrumphed, and he pointed to something on the menu. “Fine, I’ll take that.” He hadn’t even looked to see what it was.

Quark glanced down at the menu, and his eyes widened. “Really? A warp core breach? Not my cup of tea – figuratively speaking – at this time of day, but you do you.” He held out a payment padd and Odo harrumphed again as he paid. He knew that he didn’t have a real reason to be there, but he didn’t want to leave when he hadn’t had any time recently to talk to Quark. He looked over at Morn, who was chatting up a young female Starfleet officer. She seemed enamored by the tale he was whispering seductively into her ear. He had an empty cup in front of him, so Odo figured he wouldn’t mind another drink.

While he waited, Odo watched Quark work. The Ferengi excelled at his job, socializing with various customers who walked by as if he cared deeply about each and every one of their personal lives. Odo knew that Quark’s one true love was latinum, but he hid that fact well. He smiled fondly. He cared for Quark more than he was willing to admit, and he enjoyed watching him work. As often as Quark complained about not owning a moon or being as successful as some of the other Ferengi he knew, Odo understood Quark well enough to know that he was happier here.

Quark looked over at him and caught his eye. Odo immediately schooled his expression and glared at him, but Quark had seen him smiling. He looked quizzically at Odo but shrugged it off, mixing the drink and bringing it over to him.

“Here. Not that you can drink it. Honestly I don’t understand why you bought it to begin with, but enjoy it I guess.” Odo smirked, thanking him, and pushed the drink over to Morn. Morn nodded at him then returned to the conversation he was having with the officer. Quark looked at Odo.

“So, um… Why did you buy a drink? I mean I complain about you not buying one all the time but I never actually expect you to _buy_ one,” he said. He seemed nervous, and he was talking pretty quickly. Odo perked up. _This is suspicious_ , he thought. Suspicious things were good, because that gave him an actual reason to be in here investigating Quark.

“Why do you sound so nervous about me being here, Quark?” he asked, not taking his eyes off him. Quark fidgeted and looked away.

“No reason. But I haven’t done anything wrong, so you really don’t need to be here. I’ve been a good citizen, like I always am.” He fidgeted again then ran off to help another customer. Odo chuckled. Something was definitely going on, and he intended to find out what it was.

He looked around to see if there was anyone else he knew in Quark’s, and he spotted Dr. Bashir coming out of a holosuite. He and Chief O’Brien were dressed up in ancient aviator clothing, and they didn’t look happy. Odo guessed that they’d lost their latest battle.

They sat down at the bar to order drinks, and Odo moved next to them. Bashir looked up, surprised.

“Oh, hey Odo. Is Quark up to something?” Bashir asked.

Everyone always assumed that was the only reason he’d be in Quark’s, Odo thought to himself. To be fair, they weren’t wrong.

“Possibly, Doctor. I’m trying to figure out what exactly he’s up to, and I need your help.” Bashir’s eyes lit up. He was always up for some spy work. O’Brien seemed interested as well.

“What do you need me to do? Garak’s been training me, so I know all about secret surveillance techniques now,” Bashir said excitedly. O’Brien smirked at his eagerness. Odo decided to play along, although the work really wasn’t that exciting.

“I’m not sure, but Quark has been acting suspicious. I haven’t had a single complaint about him this week.” He looked over at Quark, who was coming towards them.

Bashir, as discreet as ever, loudly interrupted him with a comment about the weather. “So – the station’s been warm lately, hasn’t it? It feels like the Cardassians are living here again.” He looked pointedly at Miles.

“Uh, yeah. It’s hot, alright.” O’Brien agreed, nodding. Quark looked between the two of them, then glanced over at Odo. Odo shrugged in response. Quark didn’t seem too suspicious and walked away to go talk to some patrons who had won too many times at dabo. Bashir sighed dramatically, wiping his forehead and smiling at Odo as if he was his co-conspirator. Odo saw O’Brien laugh slightly then cover it up as a cough.

“Anyway, I’d be glad to help with your Quark problem, but it doesn’t sound like you know what the problem is,” Bashir said. “If you want, I’ll go undercover and try to find out what’s going on.”

Odo nodded. “I’d appreciate that, Doctor. Just don’t let Quark know what you’re up to.” Bashir grinned, boyish enthusiasm written all over his face, and agreed. Odo and O’Brien shared a knowing glance, then Odo slipped out of the bar.

 

A day later, Odo still hadn’t heard anything from Quark’s. Major Kira had just left, and he was going over the reports again, scouring them to see if Quark could be even marginally involved with anything. Nothing. Another breakup, some minor loitering, a missing Bajoran earring – nothing that sounded like Quark’s doing. He sighed and leaned down to put the padd away.

“Constable! I found something!” Bashir yelled, running into the security office. Startled, Odo dropped the padd. Bashir ran over and picked it up for him, putting it on his desk.

“I know what Quark is up to!” he told Odo, grinning. Odo gestured for him to sit down, mainly so he could stop breathing so heavily. The doctor looked as if he’d ran across the entirety of Deep Space Nine to deliver this news.

“What did you find out?” he asked, quite curious. Bashir scratched the back of his neck nervously.

“Well, I didn’t actually find out _that much_ ,” he said. “But I know that Quark is doing maintenance on one of the holosuites! That has to mean something.” Odo’s eyes widened. He’d underestimated Bashir’s capacity for misplaced enthusiasm if he was this happy about discovering some repair work. He opened his mouth to say something along those lines, when Bashir continued.

“That’s not all, though. I checked with engineering and no one’s doing any work on that holosuite. In fact, Miles had no idea it needed repairs. Rom didn’t either. So that means it’s a coverup and Quark's doing something nefarious in there!” Bashir said, clearly proud of himself. Odo nodded.

“Hmmm, that does seem suspicious. Thank you for your assistance, Doctor.” Bashir grinned.

“Happy to be of service. Let me know if you have any other missions for me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a breakfast date with Garak,” he replied. He had a bounce to his step as he left. Odo wondered briefly when Bashir had started having breakfasts with Garak in addition to the lunches, but he didn’t give it much thought. His main focus was on Quark. The fact that he’d commandeered a holosuite for himself did give him pause, as the holosuites were the only part of Quark’s bar that Odo didn’t have under constant surveillance. He could be up to anything in there.

Standing up, Odo put the padd away and closed up the office. He decided to figure out what Quark was up to once and for all. Shapeshifting into a small human bug – a fly – he flew out of the office and up to the second floor of the Promenade.

 

Quark walked into the bar, much more energized than he normally felt this early in the morning. He went straight to his holosuite to make sure his scheme was still proceeding as planned. His prized possession was in great condition, and he chuckled to himself as he walked out. “Just one more day left until I can finally execute my plan. Odo won’t know what hit him,” he said under his breath.

Odo, having just flown up to the holosuites, heard this and panicked. Was Quark trying to hurt him? Had all of his half-hearted insults and fake mockery finally gotten to the Ferengi? Hurt, he decided to confront Quark directly about it. He landed a few feet in front of Quark, startling the poor Ferengi terribly as he turned back into himself. Quark nearly fell over, squealing in fright.

“Odo!” he shrieked. “This isn’t what it looks like!”

Odo stood over him menacingly. “You should hope not, Quark. If it is, you can look forward to spending the rest of your life in prison.”

Quark gulped and wiggled around. He looked towards the holosuite as if he was debating what to do, then resigned himself to his decision.

“Fine, it was going to be a surprise, but I guess I’ll have to show you it now.” He walked over to the holosuite, opening it and beckoning for Odo to join him.

Odo steeled himself for whatever terrible purpose Quark had requisitioned the holosuite for. He imagined it was full of illicit contraband, possibly even weapons. He stepped into the holosuite.

At first, he thought it was completely empty. He started to take another step, but Quark pulled him back.

“Don’t step on it! I thought you liked them,” he said, sounding embarrassed.

Odo looked down. Under his foot there was… a tribble? His jaw dropped, and he smiled, forgetting that Quark was there. He reached down to pick it up, and it cooed at him. He cuddled it to his chest.

“So… do you like it?” Quark asked as he twisted his hands together. He looked at Odo hopefully.

“I love it, Quark,” Odo replied. “However, you know we’ll have to get rid of it so it doesn’t take over the station again,” he added regretfully.

“No, we won’t! That’s the surprise – or it was supposed to be the surprise at least. I got this from a special breeder. It’s going to live for ten years and won’t ever reproduce. I was keeping it in the holosuite until tomorrow, because that’s when it’ll reach its full size.”

Odo couldn’t help but smile fondly at Quark. Quark gulped again, not used to Odo making that face at him. Odo thought about his past interactions with Quark and remembered that Quark’s only motivation in life was making more latinum.

“Why did you do this for me, Quark? This little guy probably cost you a lot, and my happiness isn’t profitable.” Quark looked around at anything but Odo. Quark had been afraid that Odo would ask this, and he still hadn’t planned out how he wanted to say it.

“Well, I just… Oh, I’m just going to say it. I like you, Odo. Like I more than a friend like you. And I know you don’t feel the same way because you’re you and all you care about is justice, but you also care about tribbles so I thought the least I could do would be to get you one to make you happy and-“

Odo cut off his babbling with a kiss. Quark’s hands fluttered around for a moment before settling on Odo’s shoulders, and he returned the kiss. It was soft and gentle, something that Odo hadn’t expected from Quark. But, as he’d learned today, Quark was clearly full of surprises. Breaking off the kiss, he kept his forehead on Quark’s.

“I love you too, Quark,” he said softly. Quark looked at the tribble in Odo’s hand and reached out to it, rubbing it.

Tribbles weren’t that bad after all, Quark decided.


End file.
